Oracle Gets New Hearing Date with EC, Users Group Adds Support

UPDATED: The request also set back to Dec. 10 a previously set Nov. 25 date for a hearing in Brussels, in which Oracle was to argue its case to EC commissioners that annexing Sun would not materially affect the world's enterprise parallel database market.

Oracle has requested and received a six-business-day extension from the
European Commission for its final date on deciding whether to sanction the
company's plan to buy Sun Microsystems.

As a result, the final day for the EC to make a decision as to whether Oracle
can do business in the 27-nation European Union is now Jan. 27, 2010. It is possible,
however, that the EC could make a decision sooner.

The request, granted Nov. 20, also set back to Dec. 10 a
previously set Nov. 25 date for a hearing in Brussels, in which Oracle was
to argue its case to EC commissioners that annexing Sun would not materially
affect the world's enterprise parallel database market.

Sun owns the code base and steers the international community of the MySQL
database, Oracle's largest open-source competitor.

EC regulators are concerned about Oracle owning such a popular competing
product-MySQL's installed base has been estimated at anywhere between 6 million
and 20 million-and possibly slowing down or stopping its development.

Oracle wanted the extension to allow it more time to respond to the
commission's concerns about the merger, the commission said.

Oracle is investing a serious amount of money and time into this venture, which
would immediately transform the Redwood City, Calif.-based enterprise database
and middleware company into one of the world's top 10 IT systems providers.

Meanwhile, CEO Larry Ellison claims that
MySQL doesn't compete directly with Oracle's proprietary databases. He also
said Sun is losing $100 million and thousands of jobs a month as customers old
and new put sales on hold until they find out the fate of the company: Will it
go to Oracle, or not?

Here are some excerpts from the letter to Kroes, signed by IOUG President Ian
Abramson:

As President of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG),
composed of over 20,000 international database and technology professionals
representing companies, government agencies and educational institutions, I
felt that it was important to provide commentary on the recent European
Commission objection to the Oracle acquisition of Sun. Formally, I would like
to express the IOUG's strong support for the proposed acquisition of Sun
Microsystems, Inc. by Oracle Corporation.

The recent objections that have emerged from the EU, focused
on the MySQL Database and the inference that through this acquisition,
competition will be reduced in the database industry does not make sense to
individuals like me or others in my community who support the profession.
On behalf of IOUG, we believe this acquisition will not reduce competition or
innovation in the community. In fact, we believe competition will
increase.

We anticipate that Oracle will continue to foster innovation
and openness with MySQL following the acquisition and not hinder competition.
Oracle has acquired numerous other companies in the past and has built on the
strength of each to foster its growth. Oracle has previously acquired databases
and has continued to support and enhance them, while providing critical
business support. The acquisitions of TimesTen, Berkeley DB and Hyperion
Essbase illustrate this very well.
By not approving this acquisition, the EU's decisions are
actually diminishing competition by making a significant impact on Sun and its
ability to remain competitive.
It is important that this transaction be completed as soon
as possible. The delay in approving the deal is impacting the companies who the
IOUG represents.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to change the date of the next Oracle-EC hearing to Dec. 10 from Dec. 4.

Chris Preimesberger was named Editor-in-Chief of Features & Analysis at eWEEK in November 2011. Previously he served eWEEK as Senior Writer, covering a range of IT sectors that include data center systems, cloud computing, storage, virtualization, green IT, e-discovery and IT governance. His blog, Storage Station, is considered a go-to information source. Chris won a national Folio Award for magazine writing in November 2011 for a cover story on Salesforce.com and CEO-founder Marc Benioff, and he has served as a judge for the SIIA Codie Awards since 2005. In previous IT journalism, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. His diverse resume also includes: sportswriter for the Los Angeles Daily News, covering NCAA and NBA basketball, television critic for the Palo Alto Times Tribune, and Sports Information Director at Stanford University. He has served as a correspondent for The Associated Press, covering Stanford and NCAA tournament basketball, since 1983. He has covered a number of major events, including the 1984 Democratic National Convention, a Presidential press conference at the White House in 1993, the Emmy Awards (three times), two Rose Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, several NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, a Formula One Grand Prix auto race, a heavyweight boxing championship bout (Ali vs. Spinks, 1978), and the 1985 Super Bowl. A 1975 graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Chris has won more than a dozen regional and national awards for his work. He and his wife, Rebecca, have four children and reside in Redwood City, Calif.Follow on Twitter: editingwhiz